34. Potty time
34
POTTY TIME
Micah
Today was the big day. The day I got to see our baby. We’d managed to find a shifter doctor who did their own ultrasounds. That had not been an easy task. It wasn’t like you could put it on your website.
I’d already met Dr. Grey once. He was nice enough and not once did he give us side eye for being mated. And maybe that was only unicorns who were shitty about that. I wasn’t sure, but it gave me comfort that he was one hundred percent about the baby and bringing them into the world safely.
“Here.” I handed Archer a bottle of water. It was the third one in the past half hour. If I were him, I’d hate me at this point. But he just guzzled them down.
“That’s the last one.” I promised. As long as he didn’t pee. The doctor told us if he did, that he needed to begin again.
We were sitting in the parking lot of his office. Archer had been sure that the bumping up and down in the car, especially if we hit a pothole, would absolutely destroy his hope of not having an accident. And really…seeing the amount of water he drank in real time—he was probably right.
“Ten minutes,” I encouraged him as he squirmed in his seat. This whole water thing was cruel and unusual punishment to pregnant people or something.
“I want to know,” he blurted out. “I know we said we wouldn’t, but I want to.”
We’d had a few discussions about finding out the baby’s sex. I’d always been on the side of, you carry the baby you get to decide. And he did… a few times.
“Sounds perfect.”
Once his bottle was empty, we went inside and signed in. Thank goodness we were called in right away. My poor omega looked like he was about to explode.
The basic vitals later and we were led into the ultrasound room and set up with Archer on the table, his belly exposed.
I loved how he rounded out, making room for our baby to grow. He didn’t see it that way, worried about the stretch marks and his growing ass. I had no idea a fuller ass was a side effect of growing a baby, but unlike Archer, I was a fan.
“Hello, fathers. Ready to meet your baby?” Doctor Grey went right to the sink and washed his hands.
“I hope it’s fast.” Poor Archer.
“We’ll see what we can do.” Dr. Grey went about coating his belly with gel and moving the wand around. “There’s your baby.”
Tears streamed over my cheeks and when I dragged my eyes away from the screen, Archer’s unblinking eyes were glued to the image.
“I’m not taking pictures for your records, but I’ll be happy to do so and print out for you,” the doctor explained. “You know because unicorn.”
“Our babe is a unicorn?” Archer said, his voice thick with emotion. “A unicorn?”
Unicorn. That was my beast, knowing he wouldn’t be alone.
Yeah , I told him.
Dr. Grey pointed out all the differences between human babies and unicorn ones. Unlike wolf pups, there were enough things that made it best to keep them out of medical records now that they were all online.
“I want one.” I grabbed Archer’s hand. “We can keep it from humans, but I want to have a pic.”
“I can do that.” The doctor clicked away on his mouse. “Would you like to know the sex?”
I didn’t answer. This was Archer’s decision to make.
“I think no. I want to focus on the wonder that is me carrying a unicorn.” He squeezed my hand. “Thank you, love.”
“No. It’s me who?—”
He pushed me away and rolled off the exam table. “Sorry doc. I gotta go.” He ran out of the room so fast, it reminded me of the roadrunner cartoons.
“He had to go,” I shrugged.
“It's a thing that happens,” Dr. Grey chuckled.
Dair e
I was about to step into the shower when I realized I’d forgotten to bring my towel in with me. I could call Wesley and ask him to bring one, of course, but he was still dozing after our sex sessions. Yeah, sessions. I liked to think I wore him out with my sexual prowess, but alphas always fall asleep afterward. It was a thing. Or maybe it was after they’d been inside me, being a grizzly and all. I puffed out my chest.
I tiptoed out of the bathroom, not bothering to cover up. Even if he was awake, he’d just had his dick in me. There was no reason to be modest.
When I reached the bedroom, my bed was empty. “Wesley, I’m just grabbing a towel.” I called so as to not startle him. I wasn’t even sure where he was.
I snatched the towel off the hook behind the door and went into the living room to see him on the couch, shoving something behind his back.
“What are you doing?” I asked, hating the knot growing in my stomach. I loved knots in exactly one place and that was not it.
“I couldn’t sleep and was waiting for you to get out of the shower. I have to pee.” No part of his body language shouted honesty. On the contrary. Everything about this situation was sketch as fuck.
Maybe I was letting the others get to me. They didn’t like Wesley, especially Neil. Or maybe the rest of my Sunshine Manor family were not Wesley fans because my human friend bad-mouthed him. It could be they were jealous of his perfect ass or chiseled chin or maybe they just needed to get laid, though I was certain Archer and Micah had plenty of sex. I wasn’t sure what the deal was. But they didn’t know him like I did.
Or rather how I thought I did. Until right then.
“Oh. Go ahead and sneak in ahead of me. I need a drink of water anyway.” I started toward the kitchen, hating that I had allowed the seeds of distrust to grow enough that I was actively trying to catch Wesley in a lie.
“Maybe I can shower with you.” He pushed himself up and came over, pressing a small kiss to my shoulder.
“I’d like that.” I opened the cupboard and took out a glass and he padded away.
I filled the glass and set it on the counter, then rushed to the couch.
My wallet. He’d had my fucking wallet and the money had been moved from one side to the other. The bastard was stealing from me or had tried to. I thought back to all the other times cash had mysteriously vanished.
“Fuck them for being right,” I screamed.
Wesley came rushing out, his eyes falling to the money in my hand. “I was trying to pay you back for lunch.”
“I’m not stupid. This is the same amount of money I had before you fucked me senseless and now it’s on the wrong side of my wallet. I interrupted you.” I hated him and worse than that, I hated me. Hated that I was so desperate to be wanted that I ignored every fucking red flag even when my friends handed them to me. Hated that I was having this argument buck ass naked. Gods, I owed Neil an apology. He saw it first.
“Get the fuck out and don’t come back before I call the cops.”
“And say what? I touched your wallet looking for another condom.” He thought he was so smooth. But it just hit me that we’d been using condoms all this time. I’d never done a test. Fuck, maybe somehow I knew this wasn’t permanent which was completely fucked up in itself.
“And start an investigation into identity theft,” I blurted out. It just hit me that what Neil had pointed out all those weeks ago was right. It was him and then he’d maneuvered his way into my life by coming to the nursery.
“You have zero proof of that.” I didn’t fail to notice he wasn’t denying it. As well as a thief, he was an idiot.
“Ahh, but I have friends who can hack into anything and can get it.” I was lying but really, he didn’t deserve any better than that. “Five. Four. Three. I suggest you don’t let me get to one…” and he didn’t, running out of there like the scared little weasel he was, the rest of his clothing in hand. My grizzly was clawing to get out and chase him.
“Daire?” Ryder came in before I was able to get to the door to close it. “I just had a mostly naked man almost run me over. What’s going on?”
“I hate that you were all right.” I blinked back tears. I refused to give him my sadness on top of my anger.
“It was Neil who was on that guy’s case. It’s him you should be thanking. I’m going for a run. Come with me.”
“Kinda naked and the water is… hold on.” I got to the shower, the water already running cold. Could today get any worse?
“Looks like I’m running. Give me a minute.” I threw on my running clothes and sneakers. It would be good for me to burn off the anger with some physical activity.
“Which way should we go?” he asked as we stretched on the porch. “Toward the park?”
“Yeah that works and can you do me a favor and distract me from the thief?”
“Do you want to hear all about how I fucked everything up with Ivor and I miss him more than my next breath? If you do, I can distract you for a solid five miles.”
He distracted me for ten.
Neil
I volunteered to watch Patch for the day and was beginning to learn that his cuteness came with a side of disgusting. But as gross as that little guy was, I liked him. He was sweet and snuggly and as long as you didn’t take your eyes off of him, he was pretty darn well behaved. If I did so much as try and sneak into the bathroom, however, I’d come back to a mess.
“Come on, sweet thing.” I grabbed his leash and he jumped off of his little bed, running towards me at warp speed. He did love his walks, or rather the idea of the walks. One day, he’d made it halfway around the block when he decided it was time to be carried. And that was fine. He was good company.
I clipped the leash onto his collar and grabbed my keys. Most people weren’t on their way home from work yet, making it an optimal time to get some air. If I waited another hour, odds were good that I’d get to the corner just as an entire busload of people were unloading.
“Let’s go.” I opened the door and the little stinker sat there, not moving. “I thought you wanted to go for a walk.”
Patch’s little tail was going a mile a minute. I squatted down. “You want to be carried?” He bolted over to me. “Spoiled pup.” I carried him out and went to lock the door only to find myself face to face with Martin.
Everything about Martin was confusing. Every last thing. At first he scared me to the point I ran away from him. Then he was pissed at me. And now…now he saw a part of me most people never did and I was oddly okay with that.
Was he? I thought so, but maybe not. Could you ever get over someone thinking you were a stalking serial killer type? Because I was pretty confident I wouldn’t. But also… I liked him.
Gods, feelings were confusing as fuck.
“Hey, Neil.” He came over to me, but not too close. Probably scared I’d run again.
“I’m taking Patch for a walk.” So much for clever banter. “He’s spoiled.”
“As he should be.” He went to pet him and stopped half way, dropping his hand to his side.
“You can pet him. He lives for it.” Which anyone looking at the pup would know. He was being cautious because of me and not fear of the sweet thing in my arms.
“Okay,” he stepped closer and scratched Patch behind the ears. “It’s sad that he had a rough life. Looks like he got a huge bonus family here, though.”
In a way he was right. We all pitched in when it came to Patch, as did our neighbor. He was the most well-loved dog in the neighborhood, possibly the city.
“This place is like that.” They were my family. That was for sure.
“I’ll let you get to your walk.” He took a step and then looked at me. “I’ve been thinking.”
Good or bad news followed when people said, “I’ve been thinking.” I hugged Patch closer as though he was my armor.
“Maybe if you want, maybe we could, you know, go out for a coffee or even dinner some time?”
His hesitant voice hit me in the gut. He wasn’ t an overly confident guy strutting around, but wanted to spend time with me. And he wasn't sure if I’d say yes. So many parts of me wanted to shout, “Yes.” It meant he not only forgave me for my weirdness when we first met and my shitty decision-making skills, but also that he liked me… at least enough to share a meal with me. His shifter scent wafted over me and I liked it.
Then there was the whole eating in a restaurant thing. I could do it. I had done it with Ivor and Archer, but they were my besties. And it took all my energy and there was no fun to be had. Going on a date in a public place wasn’t for me. “I… how about I cook dinner for you instead.”
“Yeah. I’d like that.” Tension disappeared from his shoulders. Patch started to squirm in my arms. “I’ll let you go before he does something you don’t want him to.”
“Oh, right.” I bolted down the stairs. At least this time I wasn’t running away from Martin. I was just running toward somewhere Patch could pee.